About Us

A society formed in 2009 for the purpose of collecting, preserving, celebrating, and disseminating the maritime history of the San Juan Islands and northern Puget Sound area.
Check this log for tales from out-of-print publications as well as from members and friends. There are circa 500, often long entries, on a broad range of maritime topics; there are search aids at the bottom of the log.
Please ask for permission to use any photo posted on this site. Thank you.

04 October 2014

❖ CLIPPER SHIP ❖

Fifty South to Fifty South byLieut. U.S.N.R. Warwick M. Tompkins, is a 1938 classic featuring the track of the well-known German built Schooner WANDERBIRD, published in 1938 by W. W. Norton and Co. A well-known vessel and a well known sailor/author; a number of the same book, with wind in her sails, kept disappearing from S. P. H. S. members bookshelves. Innocently sailing off. So with another copy warmly welcomed home, we'll celebrate with a quote from Tompkins' glossary from his book, pg 256.CLIPPER SHIP"A term properly applied to the very beautiful, very fine, fast and over-sparred ships built in the U. S. between 1850 and 1859 and some of their British prototypes of later date (like CUTTY SARK, built in 1869) that carried the rarest cargoes at the high freights demanded by high speed. Such square-rigged ships as survive today are rather floating warehouses supplying long-term storage as well as transportation, and are loosely termed clippers only by very unpoetic license."

Clipper GLORY OF THE SEAS.Endpaper from book Clipper Ship CaptainDaniel McLaughlin and the GLORY OF THE SEASby Michael Jay Mjelde.

An example of a medium clipper ship sailing Puget Sound was the GLORY OF THE SEAS, 240.2 x 44.1 x 28.3 feet and 2,102.57 gross tons, the last full-rigged ship built by Donald McKay of East Boston, registered at Boston.

Ron R. Burke, cartographer.

The above artwork by Ronald R. Burke, editor of The Sea Chest, published by Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, along with Michael Jay Mjelde, an honorary life-member, accompanies Mjelde's most recent article on GLORY OF THE SEAS. A cover painting of the clipper GLORY by Mark Myers RSMA, F/ASMA, with 16 pages of her last voyage under sail is featured in the Sept. 2014 issue of the members quarterly journal. P.S.M.H.S. site has information on signing on as a member, and an index for purchasing past issues of The Sea Chest.What Michael Mjelde doesn't know about this clipper ship is not worth knowing. His published books are:

Sequel to the Glory of the Seas.Clipper Ship Captain Book search here The clipper ship GLORY OF THE SEAS ended her days burned for her metal fittings on a gravel beach, just south of Seattle, 13 May 1923.

BRISTOL (227502) 60' x 17.2' x 7.4' , Capt. E. W. Chevalier, working as mailboat when lost in collision in San Juans. Cold, wet crew but no loss of life. Some mail sacks later found on beaches. 1960.

CHICKAWANA (210031) Ol.s. 55.4' x 12.9' x 5.1' blt. 1912. Operated by Bellingham Transp. Co. for many years with a 4th Class Post Office on board. Lost to fire on mail run from Stuart Is. to Waldron. Owned by Mason Lewis. No loss of life. 1948.